


Prey

by rudbeckia



Series: Spookylux Huxloween 2018 [22]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 07:18:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16363376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Huxloween day 22: Shared nightmaresBen and Hux are having nightmares. But whose dream is it?





	Prey

Electricity hummed behind the walls and traffic roared quietly far away. Millicent snorted softly in her sleep and Hux wondered, for the fourteenth time, if he should take her to the vet for a check up. Not that he was counting. He reached for his phone to check the time, as he always did when he woke in the small hours, and the room lit up with the harsh glow from the screen. Millicent snorted louder then went silent. Hux reached for her, nestled into his armpit, and she purred.  
“Good girl,” he murmured so as not to wake Ben. “Get you checked at the vet. ‘Kay?”  
Millicent did not seem to disapprove. Hux found the vet practice online and sent them a request for an appointment, then set his phone face down and closed his eyes as if pretending was just as good as real sleep. Ben grumbled and stirred but soon was quiet again.

Ben’s feet caught in the covers as he woke. Hux, fast asleep as always, lay inert at his side with a tiny ginger head resting on his far shoulder. Ben smiled. Millicent made Hux happy and that was reason enough to let her rule the bed. He reached over Hux and scratched Millicent’s head, eliciting a loud, rattling purr.  
“Hush,” Ben whispered. “You’ll wake your other daddy!” He chuckled as Millicent chased his fingers. “No, kitty, I’m not prey. Careful, girl!”  
Millicent wriggled free of her nest and walked over Hux’s face to head-bump Ben, then she snuggled under the covers between them. Ben bent down to kiss her head and she sneezed.  
“You’re disgusting,” said Ben, wiping his face on the pillow then turning it over and settling down to sleep.

Hux frowned. Something wasn’t right. A feeling of wrongness pervaded his whole being and he was convinced that he was in danger. He looked around and saw that he was not in bed any more. When had he got up? Where was he? He searched for anything familiar and recognised with a start that he was in the cobbled lane behind his own house, but the discoloured, crumbling brick walls were too high and his heightened senses could detect noises and scents that were new and strange to him. He walked towards his gate, padding on fingers and toes without questioning why he did not stand upright and open it like normal. A low snarl came from behind the bins by his gate and he felt panic rise.

 _Not again, no, not..._

Something clattered and he ran, heart fluttering in his chest, taking deep, heaving breaths that never seemed to fill his lungs enough. Scrabbling paws followed, but he was slow and tired quickly and he couldn’t shake it off. Hux desperately looked for any tight nook where he could hide or anywhere high he might climb to safety. 

There was nowhere. Hux put on one last burst of speed, sure that he had seconds left to live. He opened his mouth and yowled.

Ben opened his eyes and saw the moon in the sky. He frowned at it. Why was the moon on the bedroom ceiling? Why was the mattress cold and hard beneath his hip? He stood up and shook himself, the memory of having just been in bed fading, replaced by this new reality where he had been asleep in the back lane, sheltering in a corner. He stretched, yawned and sneezed, shaking his head to clear his muddled mind. 

Something moved.

Ben turned his head to fix his eyes on the slight movement of the long grass and dandelion leaves that sprouted from the missing cobbles at the base of the brick walls that bordered the lane. The faintest rustle reached his ears and he watched, silent and unmoving, to see what it might be. 

There!

Ben pounced but the creature was too fast for him. He gave chase, darting after it as it fled across the cobbles and vanished. Ben stopped and sniffed but his sense of smell was not as good as it should be. He found a tiny gap in the brickwork of the high wall. The creature must be there, he thought. Climb the wall. Drop down and catch it. Eat. The thought gave him pleasure and he scaled the wall with a huge leap and a little scrabbling to get to the top. He dropped lightly down the other side and froze. More pairs of shiny pale violet and white pinpoint eyes than he could count glared back at him. Slowly, Ben backed away but the wall prevented his escape. As the creatures swarmed towards him, he opened his mouth and yowled.

Hux sat bolt upright in bed, sweat chilling his forehead and back. Ben woke with a cut-off cry and sat up too, breathing hard. Between them, Millicent snorted and sneezed again then shook herself. She yawned, rubbed against Hux and Ben, then jumped down from the bed intending to patrol the house. There were dangers in the night. Whether the threat of being chased and caught in slavering jaws or overwhelmed by prey that fought back was real or dreamed, it made no difference. She would keep her helpless companions safe from harm.


End file.
